Effectiveness of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy for COVID-19 Patients in the Intensive Care Unit: A Case-Control Study

Objective: Many methods are used in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which causes acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and there are conflicting reports in the literature regarding the results of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy, which is one of those methods. The aim of our study is to evaluate the effect of MSC treatment applied together with standard treatments on survival. Materials and Methods: This retrospective case-control study evaluates the survival effect of MSC treatment administered to patients treated in intensive care after the development of ARDS due to COVID-19 between March 2020 and March 2021. The age, gender, comorbid disease status, APACHE II score, and overall and comorbidity-based survival rates were compared between patients who received standard medical treatment (SMT) and patients who received MSC treatment together with SMT. Results: There were 62 patients in the group receiving only SMT and 81 patients in the group receiving SMT and MSC. No difference was observed between the groups in terms of age, gender, presence of comorbid diseases, or APACHE II scores. There were also no differences according to Kaplan-Maier analysis for the survival statuses of the groups. There was no serious adverse effect due to MSC treatment among these patients. Conclusion: Our study presents the largest case series in the literature, and it was observed that MSC treatment may not significantly affect overall survival or comorbid disease-based survival, in contrast to many other studies in the literature.

Preliminary Report of the ministry of health working group on standardization of living donor liver transplantation in Turkiye.

Liver transplantation is successfully achieved all over the world and in Turkiye. Similar to many middle and far east countries, donation from deceased donors has not reached the desired level in Turkiye. Therefore, in Turkiye, living donors have been frequently used for liver transplantation. Although Turkiye is the leading country in Europe and one of the top three countries in the world executing LDLT, nationwide standardization of LDLT protocols, including donor and recipient evaluation and acceptance criteria, donor and recipient follow-up and reporting rules, and routine periodic audits by the ministry of health authorities, has not been established. Therefore, we created a working group to study reviewing regulations of LDLT operation in Europe and the USA. The establishment and implementation of standardization of LDLT operation will serve to improve the donor and recipient outcomes while preventing incomplete or incorrect practices. The guide prepared on this subject is presented in the Appendix.